Not a few believers today probably regard the book of Revelation as largely an obscure prophetic book filled with apocalyptic symbolism and a book that is not really of much contemporary importance for how we are to live our lives. A striking observation about the book shows that its relevance for our lives could hardly be overstated.
Number of Occurrences of Forms of the Word “Worship”
Through reading through the book of Revelation 11 times in the past four months, I have discovered many truths about the book that I had not seen before. Today, after reading through the book this morning, I examined how many times the word “worship” occurs in its various forms in the book compared to other books of the Bible.
In the OT, the seven books with the most occurrences of forms of the word “worship” are the following: Exodus – 7; Deuteronomy – 7; 2 Kings – 12; Psalms – 16; Isaiah – 10; Jeremiah – 9; and Daniel – 12. In the NT, 23 books have fewer than five occurrences of the forms; four books have 13 or more occurrences: Matthew – 14; John 13; Acts – 13; and Revelation – 24.
These figures show that the book of Revelation has far more occurrences of forms of the word “worship” in it than any other book of the Bible does! Based on this data, we learn that this book stresses the importance of worship in a profound way that is probably little appreciated by many believers today.
Conclusion
The book of Revelation is far more than just an obscure prophetic book filled with apocalyptic symbolism that has little relevance for how we live our lives. At least through its surpassing use of forms of the word “worship,” the book of Revelation challenges us more than any other book of the Bible does that we must worship God aright for who He is and what He has done and will yet do.
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